I’ve read a fair few vegetable how-tos over the last few years. Carol Klein’s Grow Your Own Veg was a favourite for a long time, and it’s still a beautifully produced volume, but it seems to be out of print right now, and only available on Amazon from ‘New and Used
At completely the opposite end of the scale to the beautiful, hard-backed Klein book, with its colour photos and thick, arty paper, is Vegetable Growing Month-by-month
The main draw, as the name suggests, is the monthly planting calendar, which takes up the middle part of the book, telling you what to plant throughout the year, when you can expect to be harvesting different crops and what other jobs you need to be doing in the greenhouse and garden. The price on the cover is £5.99, but Amazon
Harrison has 30 years of vegetable-growing experience, yet he assumes no knowledge on his reader’s part, and the style in which he has written this approachable tome is friendly and non-threatening.
But the content goes beyond mere month-by-month methodology and advises on how to choose a greenhouse, how to construct a polytunnel, which tools to choose and how to spot (and avoid) diseases. It’s everything you could need in a book small enough to carry around in your work bag, and cheap enough to read in the potting shed without worrying about getting it dirty.
Is it the best veg-growing book ever? Possibly. And if not, it’s certainly one of the best I’ve read.
Price £5.99 recommended (£3.99 from Amazon
Pros Clear advice delivered in a friendly, approachable manner. Small and cheap enough to carry around.
Cons Not a glossy book.
Verdict If you need clear, easy-to-follow instructions on growing your own vegetables, you won’t go wrong here.
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